Town Handsome and stately, Edinburgh is a self-confident capital city, with a thriving tourist industry, a strong streak of sophistication and a rich heritage. It's also one of the few places you can buy a deep-fried Mars bar in a non-ironic way. The centre is dominated by Edinburgh Castle and Princes Street Gardens, giving it a green, open appearance. Superb architecture from the Middle Ages on make strolling around enjoyable - even if the weather is doing its best to deter you. If it gets too much, you can always find a latte, or a wee dram, to warm you. The flipside to this splendour is some grim housing estates, a Trainspotting-esque drug problem and a surfeit of tartan tat.

Gown Napier has four main campuses to the south-west of the city centre. Craighouse (arts, social sciences and music) is in listed buildings in Morningside; Merchiston (engineering, computing) includes a 500-capacity computer centre; Sighthill will close this year, and the business school will move to the redeveloped £24m Craiglockhart campus.

Top-rated teaching departments 80% of Napier's courses are vocational. Its best performers are architecture, mechanical and general engineering, life sciences and business.

Top-rated research departments General engineering, civil engineering and library and information management led the pack in the 2001 RAE. Each got a 4 rating.

Head count Men have the slight edge: 54% of the 13,717-strong student body are male, and 61% of the 702 academic staff. 91% of students are from state schools.

Academic pay Variable. Some departments compare favourably, with architecture lecturers on £31,500. Some not: professors of engineering on £44,000 or business researchers on £21,600.

Climate Edinburgh weather is generally cool, often unkind. Highs of 20C on those endless summer days. Dreary in the winter, and barely enough daylight hours to keep you sane.

Transport links Napier's campuses are all about 15 minutes' drive from the city centre. Buses from town aren't too much of a slog. There are cycle paths to some of the campuses. Edinburgh is on the whizzy east coast mainline, but many use the budget airlines. Traffic round Edinburgh can be slow, but the scenery makes up for it. It's hard to tire of seeing the Forth Rail Bridge picked out against the sky.

Entertainment It's festival central up here. The Edinburgh International Festival, and the more experimental Fringe Festival, make up the biggest arts festival in the world. Edinburgh also hosts festivals for books, jazz, films and television. And there's Hogmanay, the UK's biggest New Year party.

For non-festival days there are all the entertainments of a capital city: major touring companies, Scottish Opera and Scottish Ballet, music ranging from rock to folk and more than 50 cinema screens. Relaxed licensing laws make drinking a virtually 24-hour option.

Football happens at Hearts (Heart of Midlothian) or Hibs (Hibernian) and rugby at Murrayfield. Or check out the castle, Holyrood House, the galleries, the botanic gardens and the gorgeous countryside beyond.

Schools The majority of Edinburgh's schools are good. Try Balgreen primary, for example. Broughton high school is one of nine centres of excellence in Scotland, for gifted children. Their speciality is music. Or opt for Fettes, and follow in the footsteps of our prime minister.

House prices Prices have been rising in Scotland, and Edinburgh is the most expensive - the average property is £139,026. There are plenty of desirable period pieces around, or swanky new flats for £200,000. The most attractive, biggest houses in the best areas sell for at least £600,000.

What to say in the common room... "Well, no, my lecture wasn't very well attended. But it was meant to be more of a fringe event."